The head of Israel's Shin Beth domestic security service Avraham Dichter met Palestinian preventative security chief for the Gaza Strip Mohammed Dahlan in Egypt on Sunday, public radio reported.

Their talks were aimed at reviving security cooperation, which has come to almost a complete halt since the start of Israeli-Palestinian violence late September, it said.

Israeli officials had singled out Dahlan in accusing the Palestinian Authority of responsibility for a bomb attack against a Jewish settler bus in the Gaza Strip last week, which left two settlers dead and triggered massive Israeli raids on Palestinian targets in the area.

Last week, Israel's right-wing opposition leader Ariel Sharon called publicly for the elimination of Dahlan.

Several other meetings took place on Sunday between Israeli and Palestinian officials to examine ways of easing tension and resuming security coordination between the two sides, Israeli military sources said.

But a senior Palestinian official said they reached no conclusions.

Sharon, leader of the right-wing Likud party, the second largest in the country, said Israel should strike at Dahlan after the deadly bombing Monday of a school bus carrying Jewish settler children in the Gaza Strip.

"We must eliminate all those who lift their hand against Jewish children, who prevent the Israeli population from living normally," Sharon said.

Palestinians blame Sharon for sparking the violence that has racked Palestinian territories with a provocative visit September 28 to the Jerusalem mosque compound or Temple Mount, a site that is sacred to both Muslims and Jews -- JERUSALEM (AFP)